A Road Less Travelled
by falltotemptationx
Summary: After making a different decision, life is bliss for Wendy and Peter. However, the strange feelings they both have are only getting stronger, and things are changing in Neverland. Can they understand themselves, and Neverland, in time to stop the evil that threatens to tear their world apart? Follows 2003 movie, my first published fic! M for later chapters
1. Chapter 1

The Lost Boys and her family rejoiced around her, the sheer force of their joy filling the room and bringing a smile to her cheeks and tears to her eyes. Yet, she had a strange heaviness in her chest, for a heart seems to weigh as much as the feelings inside them, happiness feels like bubbles, regret similar to lead.  
She knew why she should be sad, for she had said many goodbyes that night, but not why she should regret. This is what she had chosen, it was what she wanted. To have a family, to grow up. But the bitter was ruining the sweet.

For this reason, she stood slightly apart from the furious hugging and kissing and exclaiming of bliss, hence why only she saw the flicker of a shadow from the window on the carpet. She had already ran to the window and yelled, "Peter!" before she even thought what that shadow might mean.  
She was right. She saw a flicker of beautiful blonde curls and heard the rustle of his leaves, and said quietly again his name. That single word was filled with all the longing and love that she felt, which was so much that her small body could not contain it, so it burst out with every breath.

He turned, and she saw the same feeling etched all over his perfect, youthful face, a face which had never before held emotion tinged with such sorrow.  
"You won't forget me will you, Peter?"  
He visibly flinched, then schooled his features into a familiar cocky grin, but it did not quite reach his eyes, for he was not a very good actor.  
"Me? Forget? Never!" But his grin slipped, and Wendy knew that was the kindest of lies. For he would forget, it was both his blessing and his curse. For the same magic which kept him young and kept him innocent, also kept him heartless, for that was what it meant to be Pan. All the feelings he had discovered, and the adventures they had had, no matter how dear they were to his heart at that moment, would fade. For all heartaches and unfairness and sad thoughts must leave a child's mind, for it is those that make him grow up. She held onto a desperate thought.  
"Will you come back?"  
His smile did warm his eyes then, for this he believed he could do, while he remembered at least.  
"Of course, to hear stories .. About me!" At that he puffed up his chest and placed his hands on his hips, for he knew he was the best there ever was and did love to hear it too. This lightened her heavy heart for only a moment before she realised another awful truth.  
As Neverland would steadily cloud the memories in Peter's head and replace them with other adventures and fun, London would do similar to her. She would tell the story of Peter Pan and Wendy many times, but as the years went by and her mind became less free and less joyful, details would slip, time would fade them, and eventually she would doubt if such a fantastical adventure had happened at all. She would wonder if she had but dreamt it and feel silly for believing such a thing to be so.  
Peter suddenly flew back a foot or two, because a broken expression had crossed his dear Wendy's face, and it hurt his heart to see it. But that was fleeting and was quickly replaced by a look of steel, which would have made grown men quake in their boots.  
Abruptly she said, "Stay there a moment Peter, I shan't be long."  
He had no time to react or consider, he merely watched in dumb shock as she smartly turned around on the windowsill, and coughed loudly.

The family stopped their celebrations immediately and stared at the girl in shock, for they had not even realised she was not still among them.  
"I am terribly sorry to say this, but I really must be on my way. I do truly love you all, each and every one. I will surely be back to visit often, for Peter and I shall have each other to remind ourselves. I am afraid I cannot stay and be a grown up, I find I have decided I should rather be in the stories that I return to tell you boys."  
Now the faces of her dear family, larger now even as it was, were easy to read. The Lost Boys were not surprised at all, they had already had their many years of adventure, but the lure of the Neverland was a call they knew well, and they would be glad for Peter to have the company, even if they would miss her so. John and Michael were frightfully upset, but the determination and excitement in their dear sister's eyes was just enough to soothe their souls. They did not consider joining her, a house full of new brothers was quite enough of an adventure for them.  
Father blamed himself, he fully remembered how he tried to force Wendy to grow up, all that time ago, and he wondered if she blamed him too, but deep in his heart he knew she did not, but she would possibly resent him if she stayed, so he said nothing and tried to accept that his daughter would make her own decisions whether he willed it or not.

Mother's face was the hardest of all to look upon. The single tear on her cheek, slowly rolling towards the hidden kiss that still waited there ungiven, spoke volumes. It spoke of her love for her only daughter, it spoke of her gratitude for bringing all these wonderful boys into her home to fill her heart, and it spoke of her sadness that an ordinary life would not satisfy her child. But most curiously of all, it spoke of a heart deep understanding, and as her mother switched her gaze from her beloved daughter to the grinning, flying boy behind her, she smiled. A smile of fondness for memories remembered, and Wendy thought she now knew why her hidden kiss was still there at the corner of her mouth.  
"Go my Darling," she whispered softly into the silence that had befallen the room, "be free. But I do expect to hear of these adventures quite shortly!"

With that, Wendy gave a watery yet heartfelt smile, turned again, and promptly stepped out of the window.

Across London that evening, many complaints were made to neighbours about a curiously loud crowing sound coming from the rooftops. Some people accused the neighbourhood children of stealing a cockerel and causing mischief. But yet others, who were looked at with incredulity and disdain by those they spoke of it it to, others swore on their lives they had saw a beautiful boy and girl, hand in hand, soaring around the chimneys in delight, the boy throwing his head back and calling his war cry, before dashing off into the clouds in a golden spark. But of course, that couldn't be, there's no such thing as flying children after all.


	2. Chapter 2

Wendy loved Neverland. She had been back home for story telling twice since she had left, and had many new and exciting things to tell her brothers. But she was adapting more and more to Neverland life. Her old nightgown had been replaced by a skirt of vines and leaves, to match Peter's, but due to her growing sisterhood with Tiger Lily, she wore a bandeau of fox fur gifted to her on her arrival by the tribe, and often sported braids and feathers in her hair. Her long light locks did so enchant the Indians, as did her pale skin, so by the fire some nights the old crones and the charming young ladies would brush her and paint her until she looked unrecognisable. She giggled and danced to the flutes and drums with Tiger Lily and spoke of girlish things while the old women told stories and sang. It was really rather magical, and she was glad she had made more friends.

There were new Lost Boys also now, more poor young children who had become Lost and whose mother's had shut the window. There was Simon, a slim, waif like boy, who looked frail but quickly became a master of the bow and arrow. He emulated Peter in many ways, listening in awe as he spoke, and tried to portray the same cocky attitude. However, when he stood in the den and puffed his chest with his fists on his hips, this earned him a swift slap on the head, for no-one did it quite like Peter. Then there was Nugget, a chubby lad who was surprisingly agile in the forests and was excellent at setting traps. He often provided the food as he ate the most of it! But he was a kind boy and always helped around the hideout. And young Binky, the smallest and quietest of the lot, had brought his blanket with him from London and the other boys teased him for still sucking his thumb. He often followed Wendy around the house, holding onto a vine from her skirt and trailing his blanket behind him, but she didn't at all mind. Although she did have to hold him and wipe his tears when she washed the tatty thing in the clear spring near the hideout. He was the sweetest of the three, and it made her sad sometimes. She had no doubt that they would find more poor Lost children, and she did wonder if there would ever be a girl. But as Peter once said, girls are far too clever to find themselves Lost.

One night, after an Indian hunting trip, Peter sat unseen in a tree while Wendy got her hair braided again by old Singing Bird as Tiger Lily played the flute. She had some paint around her eyes and he thought it made them look very blue. _How odd,_ he thought, as a small, secret smile flitted across his face while he watched her laugh. He decided to stop spying and abruptly yet gracefully dropped from the tree to land next to the girls.

"Peter! You scared us!" they cried, as they picked themselves up from the floor where they had fallen in their fright, giggling together. _Girls are strange_ , Peter thought.

"Wendy, lets go!" whispered Peter, with a conspiratorial smirk. Tiger Lily snickered, for she saw what Peter did not, and what Wendy had hidden away in a drawer at the back of her mind.

"I'm going to see Little Bear." she winked at Wendy as she slinked away through the bonfire smoke. Wendy gazed after her, a confused expression on her face, lit by the flickering light. Peter had no patience, so he poked her on her shoulder and exclaimed, "Come on then!"

Wendy was quiet as they wandered through the undergrowth of the forest, still thinking about Tiger Lily and her wink. She tried to forget it, for Peter had made himself very clear about his lack of feeling, and Neverland was much more fun when you didn't worry about grown up things like that. She must remain gay and innocent and heartless, but that was a difficult thing for a girl.

She had wandered away from Peter, as, boy that he is, he had crawled through the giant leaves and chased a squirrel up a tree for a moment, but in her distraction, he had snuck up behind her, gently put his head over her shoulder and whispered, "boo!"

As she screamed in fright, he laughed and dug his fingers into her sides, leaping on her and tickling her mercilessly as they tumbled to the floor. She squealed and kicked and giggled until she was breathless, but he didn't relent, laughing and crowing as she tried to push him away and wriggle out of his arms. "Stop Peter, I'm dying!" she gasped through her hysterical laughter, but he only smirked wolfishly and moved to tickling her neck too as they flailed and rolled around on the mossy earth. They rolled again so Peter hovered above her, pinning her legs down, weight on one arm, still grinning like a Cheshire cat as he gradually stopped his torturing. Wendy gasped, and he felt her breath heaving beneath him as she tried to calm herself. She quietened steadily, and he felt his smirk slowly slip into a quiet, genuine smile as he hovered above her, her blue eyes sparkling in the starlight. He felt a very strange squirming feeling in his stomach as Wendy's smile looked rather secret, and he saw her hand lift from the ground. He held her eyes as memory flashed through his mind. The night in the fairy glade when she had tried to touch his face and he had ran, and the moment on the pirate ship before she gave him that special gift that he couldn't bear to think about. His heart stopped and his breath hitched as her hand hovered in the air beside them, and still he held her eyes, not understanding why.

Wendy's breathing felt shallow beneath him, but then her gentle, secret smile turned to a wicked grin, and he barely had a chance to feel the fear before she had poked him in his own ribs and scrambled away from beneath him. He lay on the forest floor as she sprinted off through the trees with a wildness and grace that he couldn't help but admire.

He rolled over, and lay on his back, gazing at the stars as he mused. _How peculiar_ , he thought, _why did my tummy feel like that? I must ask the tribe wise woman, perhaps I'm getting sick._ He didn't feel sick though, he felt light, like bubbles in his chest. He had no desire to get up, content to lie there and watch the skies and the forest around him. But for some peculiar reason, he couldn't stop picturing those pretty blue eyes.


End file.
